William Lincoln Fanning I (1893-1986)
William Lincoln Fanning I (1893-1986) was a stock broker by 1917 and by 1930 he was the manager of a business publication. He became president of the Westchester County Publishers. (b. Feruary 12, 1893; Burlington, Vermont - d. March 16, 1986; North Adams, Massachusetts) Parents *William Fanning (1861-?) *Emilie Dumont (1864-1940) Marriage He married Mercy Burgess Dawes (1892-1983) on April 11, 1917. The New York Times reported: "Invitations have been issued by Dr. and Mrs. Spencer Lyman Dawes of Albany and New York for the marriage of their daughter, Miss Mercy Burgess Dawes to William Lincoln Fanning, of New York. ... Richard H. Nelson, Bishop of Albany, on Wednesday ... All Saints' Cathedral, Albany ..." Town & Country magazine wrote: "Dawes—Fanning. April 11. Miss Mercy B. Dawes, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. S. L. Dawes of Albany and New York, to Mr. William L. Fanning of New York; at All Saints' Cathedral." Occupation At Westchester County Publishers said: "I like to see a woman on the copy desk." and promoted Audrey J. Brown Atkins (1923-2011). Biography *Who is Who in finance (1951): "Fanning, William Lincoln, newspaper. Born Burlington, Vermont, February 12, 1893. William and Emilie (DuMont) F.; editor publisher and private schools; married Mercy Burgess Dawes, April 11, 1917; children — William Lincoln, Catherine Dawes ..." Obituary William Fanning, ex-WRN chief, dead at 93. William L. Fanning, a newspaper executive who for four decades who quietly used his influence to help modernize Westchester County, died Sunday at North Adams Regional Hospital in Massachusetts at the age of 93. Mr. Fanning helped build what is now Gannett Westchester Rockland Newspapers. He served as vice president and treasurer of the newspaper group for 37 years when it was owned by the Macy family and spent four years as president of the group after it was sold to the Gannett Co. Inc. in 1964. Although he remained primarily in the background, Mr. Fanning helped set the county's agenda, publicly Please see FANNING on back of section through strong editorial positions in his newspapers and privately in meetings with county leaders, many of whom he helped install in office. Those leaders met with Mr. Fanning Fanning at lunches, often in country club settings, forming what was informally known as "the Escape Club." Club companions included the late William Butcher, then-chairman then-chairman then-chairman of the County Trust, Westchester's largest bank at the time; and the late County Executive Edwin G. Michaelian. An intimate of the late Govs. Thomas E. Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller, Mr. Fanning worked with them and gave editorial support support to projects that brought the state Thruways and the Tappan Zee Bridge to Westchester. He also persuaded persuaded Rockefeller in 1960 to take on the job of rebuilding the county's parkways. He supported Michaelian's efforts to build the Westchester Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla and the new County Courthouse Courthouse in White Plains. He also backed the creation of the Westchester County Association, which has grown into the county's leading business group, and sought to provide the proper atmosphere to attract blue-chip blue-chip blue-chip corporations like General Foods, IBM and Nestle to Westchester. Mr. Fanning worked for the establishment of a medical college in Westchester to enhance the work being done at Grasslands Hospital, predecessor of the county medical center. Faced with a strike against the newspapers in December 1957 by members of the International Typographers Typographers Union, Mr. Fanning displayed displayed his strong convictions about the need to continue publishing. Although the same union had stopped some of the nation's largest newspapers from publishing during a strike, Mr. Fanning brought in outside workers, stood firmly and defeated the strike, even though the picketing continued for almost three years. The strikers never returned to work in his plants. In the late 1960s, Rockefeller appointed Mr. Fanning to a committee committee to study the employment of minority groups in the news media. The committee concluded in 1969 that the presence of minority groups in the media was necessary to aid in closing the "chasm of misunderstanding that separates the races." The report helped raise the consciousness of newspaper executives executives concerning the training and hiring of minority reporters and editors. Brian J. Donnelly, currently president of the Gannett Metro Group and a longtime executive with and former publisher of Westchester Westchester Rockland Newspapers, remembered remembered working under Mr. Fanning. "He would chomp on his pipe as you talked and listen to you, but once he put his head down, you knew it was time to stop talking and leave the room. He never would cut off a speaker." Mr. Fanning, a tall, imposing man, was an avid golfer well into his late 80s and scored a 77 at age 78 in a tournament at Sleepy Hollow Hollow Country Club in Briarcliff. He was also a five-goal five-goal five-goal polo player. Born in Burlington, Vt, Feb. 12, 1893, the son of William and Emilie DuMont Fanning, he served in the Army during World War I, and later became a member of Squadron Squadron A of the 101st Cavalry of the New York National Guard, retiring with the rank of captain. Early in his business career, Mr. Fanning was a financial adviser to the family of V. Everit Macy, a wealthy civic leader in Westchester. Westchester. He had served with Macy's two sons, Valentine E. Macy Jr. and J. Noel Macy, in Squadron A. Mr. Fanning joined Westchester County Publishers in February 1927, and helped the Macy family build and operate the fledgling newspaper group in Westchester, later extending it into Putnam and Rockland counties. The Macy newspaper group, as it was known, was started in 1923 by V. Everit Macy for his sons, but in reality it carried out the policies and programs of the elder Macy. The elder Macy was a wealthy social reformer who served Westchester Westchester in the elected office of superintendent of the poor, a forerunner forerunner of today's social services commissioner. He was instrumental in the creation of Grasslands Hospital Hospital and in revolutionizing the welfare welfare system of the time, making Westchester a model county for treatment of its poor. The Macy family acquired the Yonkers Statesman in 1924. In 1926, it acquired the Tarrytown Daily News, Ossining Citizen Sentinel and the Port Chester Daily Item. Because of his business talents, Mr. Fanning was brought to Westchester Westchester in 1927 to help operate the newspapers. He participated in the group's acquisition in 1929 of the Mount Vernon Daily Argus, the New Rochelle Standard-Star, Standard-Star, Standard-Star, the Mamaroneck Times, and five weekly newspapers the North Westchester Times, the New Castle Tribune, the Larchmont Times, the Harrision Citizen Observer and the Dobbs Ferry Register. The group acquired the Yonkers Herald in 1932 and merged it with the Statesman. In 1939, Mr. Fanning Fanning helped the Macys start an eighth daily, the White Plains Evening Evening Dispatch, which competed with the Daily Reporter. Two years later, the Evening Dispatch bought out the Daily Reporter. In 1938, the group acquired radio radio station WFAS. In 1953, the Bronxville Review Press-Reporter, Press-Reporter, Press-Reporter, a weekly newspaper, was added. As the Macy brothers turned to other endeavors, Mr. Fanning became became the day-to-day day-to-day day-to-day day-to-day day-to-day operating head of the group. In January 1960, the group crossed the Hudson River to acquire acquire the Rockland Journal-News Journal-News Journal-News partly to prevent the Bergen Record Record in New Jersey from establishing establishing a strong foothold in that county. Fearing that the newspaper group would be broken up and some of the newspapers sold for tax reasons when members of the Macy family died, Mr. Fanning helped engineer the sale of the newspapers as a group to the Gannett Gannett Co. on April 1, 1964. The sale was due, in part, to the friendship Mr. Fanning had developed with Paul Miller, then-president then-president then-president of Gannett. Gannett. WFAS was not included in the sale. During his newspaper career, Mr. Fanning was a president of the New York State Publishers Association, Association, director and treasurer of the American Newspaper Publishers Publishers Association and president of the New York State Associated Dailies. He served in the early 1970s as a trustee of New York Medical College, and was a member of the Development Committee for the Westchester County Medical Center. Center. He also was a director of the Westchester County Division of the American Cancer Society. In the early 1960s, Mr. Fanning fought against a proposal that the county sell part of Kingsland Point Park in North Tarrytown to General General Motors so it could expand its assembly plant and stay in North Tarrytown. Instead, Mr. Fanning persuaded Rockefeller to have a law passed allowing GM to fill in a portion of the Hudson and expand into the river. During his career and into his retirement, he lived on Holbrook Road in Briarcliff Manor. He and his wife, Mercy Dawes Fanning, moved to Clemson, S.C., 10 years ago. Mrs. Fanning, who married her husband in Albany in 1917, died in 1983. Mr. Fanning was a member of the Holy Trinity Church in Clemson, Clemson, and was previously a member of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Briarcliff Manor, where he served as senior warden. He was also a member of the Sleepy Hollow Country Club. Survivors include a son, William William L. Fanning Jr., of Annapolis, Md.; a daughter, Katharine F. Potter, Potter, of Stephentown, N.Y.; five grandchildren and four greatgrandchildren. greatgrandchildren. Funeral services will be private. private. Burial will be in Mountain View Cemetery, Saugerties, N.Y. Contributions in Mr. Fanning's memory may be sent to St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Briarcliff Manor. (Source: Milton Hoffman in the The Journal News of White Plains, New York on March 17, 1986) Relationships *William Lincoln Fanning I (1893-1986) was the 3rd cousin 2x removed from Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) Research William Lincoln Fanning II wrote in 2012: "My sister only remembers my father telling her that after his father deserted him and his mother, and was supporting them she did so very reluctantly and always reminded them of how generous she was. My father always referred to her as 'that mean woman'. I regret that's all we have. good luck. Bill. Images File:WorldWarIDraftRegistrationCards19171918 268727947.jpg|1917 draft registration File:Fanning-WilliamLincoln 1917 marriage.png|1917 marriage File:1930UnitedStatesFederalCensus 435504375.jpg|1930 census living in Ossining, New York Category:Non-SMW people articles